The invention relates generally to electrical connectors, and more specifically, to a cable-to-cable connector assembly for use with a power supply in an electronic device.
Some electronic devices, such as computers, include a power supply that provides power to components mounted on the motherboard and certain other peripheral devices such as fans, disk drives, CD and DVD drives, etc. Typically the power supply includes a wire harness that has a bundle of wires coming out of the power supply. The wires in the wiring harness typically are provided with a multiplicity of connectors, each designed to be connected to a particular type of peripheral device. The electronic device also has its own wiring harness that is compatible with the wiring harness in the power supply. Further, power supplies are designed to handle various maximum power levels or wattages with the power supplies rated at higher power levels having more circuits or more wires in the wiring harness
As the number of electronic devices in the marketplace has increased, many with multiple versions, it has become burdensome for power supply manufacturers to provide multiple versions of power supplies and for device manufactures to carry an inventory of different harnesses based on multiple configurations of motherboards and peripherals in the devices. Cable-to-cable connector assemblies, wherein one connector is mounted on or in the power supply and a mating connector carries wiring for the device, have lessened these inventory carrying requirements.
Conventional cable-to-cable or cable-to-board connector assemblies typically include a receptacle connector and a plug connector. Contacts of the connectors are interconnected to one another during mating of the connectors. However, known connectors suffer from problems associated with the mating of the connectors. For example, the connectors typically require alignment and proper orientation of the receptacle connector and the plug connector for mating. Sometimes visibility or accessibility is limited, which makes it difficult for a user to align and orient the connectors.
Furthermore, greater numbers of contacts are being housed in each connector to accommodate higher power demands through the connectors. As a result, the connectors are more difficult to mate with one another because the mating force required to fully mate the connectors is increased. Improper mating of the connectors may lead to a partial or complete failure of the system operated by the connectors. To overcome these and other mating problems, at least some known connectors provide thumb screws on the receptacle connector that may be secured to the plug connector or chassis surrounding the plug connector. By tightening the thumb screws, the connectors become fully mated, and removal of the receptacle connector from the plug connector is restricted. However, other problems are associated with the use of such known thumb screws. Particularly, tightening and un-tightening the thumb screws is difficult and sometimes uncomfortable for the user. Additionally, tightening and un-tightening the thumb screws is time consuming.
A need remains for a cable-to-cable connector assembly that eliminates the need for a wiring harness in power supplies and in electronic devices. There is a further need for such a connector assembly that is convenient to use and may be mated with a reduced mating force.